The Power of Anub'arak



Introduction

Nerubian Assassin, aka NA, is a great hero. I've not seen a truly exceptional guide for this guy, and I've decided to share my input and insight into this hero.

NA is known for suddenly appearing to dish out an incredible initiating hit or an awesome finish. NA unfortunately has some mediocre stat gains overall, so he tends to be squishy against the wrong lineup. Despite that, he has a good attack animation for last hitting, and has what I believe to be a fairly low requirement of skill compared to many other heroes. In order for those requirements to be met, the beginning player wanting to try NA must have a general understanding of the game and its mechanics, or else you are wasting your time reading a detailed hero guide. I would kindly redirect you to the beginning guides posted elsewhere on the site. Here is a link if you can't find them: newbie guides.

In order to play NA, you have to a particular play style. You must have the mindset of an assassin to play this hero well. Good timing, chaining your spells, and working with your teammates are basic requirements for success.

The Skills

For hero details, please see the NA hero page here: Nerubian Assassin Hero Page.

Impale

This is your bread and butter skill. A solid stun with an equally solid amount of damage. I use it for farming and ganking. Note that it does not have to be targeted at a unit, you can target the ground. This is extremely useful, as you can hit invisible units with it, target up a cliff or into fog, or even send it over a cliff edge to help out a teammate! It also has a small line AoE, which means that it will hit everything in range of and slightly to the sides of your target line.

Mana Burn

Your signature. Despite the recent rework, this skill is still every bit as mean as it was before. With the right starting skill build, this skill is easily "spammable" at the laning phase. This little trick is the nightmare for most INT based heroes (Necrolyte, Windrunner, etc.) and heroes with small mana pools (Moon Rider, Rogue Knight, etc.).

Spiked Carapace

Buffs your armor and gives you an impressive damage return of 40% for no mana cost or cooldown! While good, it only works for melee damage. Be wary of this! Many high DPS (damage per second) heroes tend to be ranged. Also, it returns damage based before your armor reductions go off, that damage is then reduced according to your attackers armor and other damage reductions such as vanguard.

Vendetta

V for Vendetta! A multifaceted skill. Can be used for chasing, initiation, running, and scouting. This is the reason NA is so feared. High burst damage coming out of invisibility, followed with a stun, nuke and mana burn hurts!

Our Skill Build

1 - Impale
2 - Mana Burn
3 - Mana Burn
4 - Impale/Stats
5 - Impale
6 - Vendetta
7 - Impale
8 - Impale/Mana Burn
9 - Mana Burn
10 - Stats/Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
11 - Vendetta
12 - Spiked Carapace
13 - Spiked Carapace
14 - Spiked Carapace
15 - Spiked Carapace/Stats
16 - Vendetta
17 thru 25 - Stats

Justification

Impale is taken at level 1 to prevent First Blood attempts. Mana Burn is leveled twice in order to reduce the cooldown enough to effectively drain mana from the enemies in your lane. A single level of stats is recommended if you need a slight bump in the early game, but do try to hold off until level 10 or 15 for stats. Impale is maxed first in order to maximize stunning power for use in ganking and escaping. Vendetta is taken whenever available as it is useful for ganking and escaping as well. Spiked Carapace is put off until the mid game when you have need of the additional armor and the damage return can truly take full effect.

Items

-Walking Out Options

To start, you have a mere 603 gold, assuming you picked NA. If you randomed NA, you're a lucky bastard and I'm not going to help you spend your 250 extra gold, so there! HA! Seriously though, there are 3 real builds that I play with depending on my teammates, what lane I'm heading out towards, and how I intend to play.

The Safe Start

or or



This set of starting items is for those who are simply looking to survive and farm their lane. If facing a nuke heavy team, go with the 2 gauntlets. If looking for some extra last-hit power go with the 2 slippers. If you're looking for some extra spell-casting, go with the 2 mantles. The set of tangos are for when you've just taken a few hits and need a little hp bump. The salve is a good burst heal for when you've narrowly avoided a gank or took a fair amount of damage you weren't expecting somewhere. The gauntlet/slippers/mantles lead into your core, so not having to get them later is nice.

Total Cost - 596 Gold

The Spammer



or

This set of starting items sets you up to "spam" your spells. By which I mean Mana Burn the hell out of the enemy stunner in your lane, or set up the INT hero for a gank at level 3-5. This is the starter set you do if you are going to solo the middle lane. You will be able to effectively neutralize the spell casting of several classic mid solo heroes such as Zeus and Nevermore.

Total Cost - 574 Gold (tango option) or 584 Gold (salve option)

The Ward/Chicken Bitch

or x2



I hate when this happens. Everyone else gets their starters, and says, "Wait, where's the chicken?" or "SHIT! WARDS!!!!111111111oneoneoneoneeleven" Then you, because you actually care about your team, say, "FINE, I'll get it..." This is about the worst thing you can do to NA for starting. Leave this for the support heroes aka Dazzle.


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Of all the starting out options, it truly depends on your personal style. My play style lends me towards the Spammer Build or the Safe Start with mantles.
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-The Core

or or



The core set of items you MUST have in order to do very much in the game. The anticipated finish time for these items is 15~20 mins or level 12~15. That is in a non easy mode game, with NA having gotten his first few kills and possibly dying a couple times. Your score should at least look like 3/2/7 and the 3 outer towers should all be down by now. Your Power Treads should mirror your stat items. For example, if you made Null Talismans, go with INT Power Treads. As for choosing bottle or magic Wand, it's your call. I get the bottle when I'm hogging the runes, or I get the Magic Wand when I'm in a dual lane or facing a lot of spell-casters.

Total Cost - 5395 Gold (Wraith Bands) or 5595 Gold (Bracers) or 5495 Gold (Nulls)

-The Expansion

Dagon Level 1

I anticipate a lot of flames for this, but Dagon does have it's place in a good NA build. Dagon is worth the gold at level 1 ONLY. I would say that it is a nice item if you don't go crazy with upgrading it. It's burst damage synergizes well with your other abilities, but it's cooldown is rather high. Getting it here as a first major item, minimizes its cost and maximizes its effect. If you're farming particularly well, you can consider this even before your Perseverance. However, make sure you hog the runes well or be prepared for a lot of fountain trips.

You get very few returns for the 1350 gold a pop upgrade. Since you only get minimal stat gains from this and don't need the extra intelligence since you have a Perseverance and hopefully are making Linken's Sphere next, this is a luxury in my opinion. This gold can definitely be better spent.

I only upgrade the Dagon in the late game if I have nothing better to spend gold on or I have a reliable Oblivion on my team.

Total Expansion Cost -2850 Gold

Linken's Sphere

This is the first expensive item that you should make. If you were paying attention when looking at the NA Hero page, you noticed that NA has a rather unfortunate drawback: stat gains. He has mediocre starting stats and less than impressive increases at every level. As you level up, you'll notice your HP and Mana are rather low. That was why you got the Perseverance. Now, you have to get a big stat boost to stay competitive and take full advantage of Spiked Carapace. Spiked Carapace does no good if you only have 1100 hp; it won't even tickle that Sven that can probably 3 shot you now if he uses God's Strength. Hell, even the spell-casters will start laughing at you now if you don't do something.

Those are the big reasons I highly recommend this as a first major item. It has an awesome stat booster that you desperately need, and it's an easy and sensible expansion from your Perseverance. Also, it's single spell negation plays havoc with enemies trying to chain nuke/stun you to death. It gives you an extra edge and chance to react.

If possible, don't replace any items for this. However, if you're 200 gold short and have to have it RIGHT NOW, sell a single Wraith Band/Bracer/Null Talisman to finish it or get the required Ultimate Orb. Ideally, this is down by the 30 min mark or level 18.

Total Expansion Cost - 3425 Gold (You already have the Perseverance, and it is deducted from the total cost.)

Ghost Scepter

This item can be taken in place of Linken's Sphere. However, this decision is highly dependent on the enemy team. If the enemy team relies primarily on physical attacks, this is a most excellent item for buying yourself some time to escape or move freely in a team fight. However, if you are facing a team with heavy nukers (Slayer comes to mind in particular), then this is NOT recommended in place of Linken's. The stat bonuses are solid, and Ghost Form is only useful if you remember to use it!

Total Expansion Cost - 1500 Gold

Item Justification

The preferred item build is to begin with the Safe Start mantles, move on boots while in a side lane, and turn mantles into Nulls (which implies INT Power Treads). By going with that starting route, you allow yourself a good build into some stat items while at the same time allowing yourself some mana for assisting in ganks or escaping. Perseverance is recommended for lane permanence. You do no good running back to the fountain after every gank or push whining about mana. Power Treads are gotten next in order to get some cheap extra movement speed, stats, and attack speed. Bottle or Magic Wand is usually sufficient for me and is all I recommend.

After establishing your core items, then moving on to the expansion is recommended. Dagon Level 1 is sufficient, and Linken's Sphere is a logical upgrade for NA considering his stats and tendency to be the target of stuns and nukes if he is initiating or chasing.

-You're Still Playing? WTF DID YOU DO WRONG!?

OK, either both teams somehow got all their members to 25; you guys failed a win push, which they pushed back to try and win and they failed to do so; or for some crazy reason everyone is farming and not pushing. In this case, there are a few items which you can get to help shift the momentum in your favor. However, you already have a full inventory that looks like this:





At some point, Magic Stick and Bottle lose their flair. Rune toting is still cool, and burst HP/Mana still can kick ass, but you've got to turn the tide for one final effort. That free item slot is how you plan to turn this mess of a game into a win! Here's a few ideas for you:




Gem of True Sight can be a breaking point for the other team under the right circumstances.
1. They have one or more cute little invisible heroes that pop in for 2 seconds, then run and scream "TEEHEE!"
2. Their team has some copycat(s) with Lothar's Edge and like to pretend it's as good as Vendetta.
3. One of those cute little invisible heroes got a gem just for you! Buy one, kill him, destroy his gem and go "TEEHEE!"
4. NA can be a good gem carrier since he has solid ways to escape harm. I highly recommend letting your team tank have it though, even if you have to buy it for him. However, if you have more HP and armor than your tank (who is a fail-tank then), keep the gem for yourself.

or or

You have a problem with finishing things. Here's your choice of medication: Cranium Basher, Sange and Yasha, or Eye of Skadi. Cranium Basher is cheaper for the Bash ability, but a little less reliable. S&Y has some nice stats and the movement speed bump is tempting, but Maim is based on chance and your attack speed, like Bash. Eye of Skadi gives you significant stats gains on top of the guaranteed slow, but is significantly more expensive. The other key difference is that stun prevents heroes from using items or abilities, frost attack does not nor does Maim. I personally prefer Eye of Skadi, since I'm a stat nut.

or or

Ever since you were a child you've dreamed of hitting things harder than those around you. You now have an extreme need for a way to hit things that much harder.

The Monkey King Bar is friend against those with Evasion either naturally, from Talisman of Evasion, or a Butterfly.

Butterfly is your friend when you want a huge DPS boost, because your carry got ganked to hell or bought the wrong item (It happens. Sigh loudly to yourself, tell him to go hide in a corner and cover for him). The Evasion coming this late also means that the chances of them getting a Monkey King Bar to use against you this late is next to nil.

Stygian Desolator is the cheap date of the bunch, but is by no means less beautiful. The armor reduction can sometimes be the last nail in a tank's coffin if they aren't stacking much armor. Especially useful against Centaur Warchiefs who only stack strength and ignore armor.



For whatever reason, you're the only stun your team has, the INT hero didn't make it and decided Dagon was a better idea, your Mana dependent carry never got around to it (Bone Fletcher), etc. Go for it. Awesome stats, epic regeneration and Hex to top it all off. Something gonna die!



Somehow, that ranged carry is beating you all to hell, or Troll Warlord finally came out of the woods because you forgot to go gank his ass. That's when this is necessary even for NA. It turns the enemies own damage against them. There's nothing funnier than a Phantom Assassin Criting herself to death on an NA with Blademail for 140% damage return. Laugh, call her a noob and push for a win while she's dead for the next 80 seconds wishing she could buyback.

or

You're happy with your DPS, but you want it to do more for you. Helm of the Dominator is a good cheap way to go. Damage, armor and lifesteal all at once. Satanic if you have the gold and need the HP. The Unholy Rage ability is nifty, so don't forget to turn it on!

-Items to Avoid

or or

If you're gonna save for a Heart of Tarrasque, save another 600 gold and make an Eye of Skadi; Eye of Skadi does way more for you. Assault Cuirass is nice, but you already have good armor, damage, attack speed, effective HP and can get the same thing or more from a Butterfly. As for Shiva's Guard, the intelligence is overkill on NA who doesn't need that much, and at this point in the game the nuke is only good (sorta) for pushing lanes. Sure the armor's nice, but armor gains versus armor returns just go down after about 30 armor (which you already have). Even the frost aura from Shiva's Guard is pretty much unnecessary on NA. Let the INT hero get it so he can feel better about supporting the team.



I can't believe that I'm actually putting this here. I've had several people insist this is a good item for NA. 3 things:
1. You have Vendetta, use it.
2. If you're running away that much, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
3. Using it to fake that you used Vendetta is shallow thinking. They sound the same, great. Still a waste of space on NA who would do better with other items.

Strategies

The Laning Phase - Levels 1~3

Grab your starting items. If no makes a chicken, go ahead and do that build. You should prefer either side lane. With Impale you can help protect a carry, or you can set up a double stun lane for good harassment and possible First Blood. As soon as you have the gold, walk a Bottle or Magic Wand out to yourself; this is your main source of mana regeneration at this phase of the game.

Your focus is to deny, deny, deny. Deny means your enemies have no gold and no levels. Getting denies is more important in my opinion than last hits for NA. Let the ranged hero or carry get the last hits, your the secondary priority. However, that doesn't mean you have no priority. Try to get every 3rd last hit if you're in a dual lane.

If you pulled a solo lane, some different things could happen. If match up with another solo, go to town like normal. If you match up with a dual ranged/stun lane, play back and soak up experience. You're no good if you start feeding at this point in the game, and buying TP scrolls on top of dying wastes gold to stay in your lane. If you get solo and matchup with a dual stun lane, call for help immediately or swap off with someone.

The Ganking Phase - Levels 4~7

About level 4 is when most people start thinking about ganking. Usually the mid with the bottle is checking a rune and decides to pop in and use up some mana. If you are able to do so, gank or help gank when the enemies are near your tower. This way you have room to chase if needed. Communicate with your teammates, decide who's initiating with what? Is it you with Impale or Shadow Shaman with Shackles? Setting this up makes sure that your stuns don't have much overlap; therefore, you get maximum stun time.

By this point you should have a Bottle or Magic Wand. See if a teammate will upgrade the chicken for you. After your first gank, use up some charges and get your mana back. Walk over to the nearest lane, and gank again! Try to save your Vendetta for a chase instead of initiating with it at this point. Most heroes won't have boots yet, so you should no problems finishing someone off with your 330 movement speed in Vendetta.

Assuming your Bottle is empty and no rune is available, it's time for a fountain run. Grab Boots of Speed and your stat items if you can. If you have to choose, get your boots first. Half the other team just went back to the fountain hopefully and will now have boots most likely.

***Advanced Tip: If you have a Bottle, use it while you are in the fountain. It will dramatically increase your regeneration which means less time at the fountain and more time ganking!

The Roaming Phase - Levels 8~12

Up to level 10, roam the map, gank often (should be able to do 2-4 ganks in this time), hog the runes and farm the lane if no else is around. Burn a TP Scroll if it can net you an easy kill in another lane.

In order to gank at this point, wait in the woods for the enemy to push close to your tower. If you have the mana for Vendetta and Impale, use Vendetta when he gets close to the tower, walk up and smack him a good one. Then, immediately Impale. 2~4 good smacks is all you're gonna get after that, because he'll either die, run (he'll probably have boots, and you have no ult now), try to countergank, or try to suicide on neutral creeps. If the first occurs, pat yourself on the back and move on. If he runs, can you finish him before he reaches a tower? If yes, give chase. Use a bottle charge to get mana for another Impale or a Mana Burn for the finish. If you can't catch him, don't tower dive; you don't have the HP for that yet. There's no need to be greedy; sending him back to the fountain is almost as good as a kill. If he runs into the jungle, give chase and be prepared to try and last hit him before the neutral creeps steal your kill! Beware of this though, he may be running towards a teammate hiding nearby!

At the end of this, you should have both stat items done, Boots of Speed, and a Perseverance (or at least a Void Stone).

***Farming Technique: When using Impale to farm creep waves, there is a particular strategy that can help you save a few seconds and improves your efficiency. Position yourself behind the ranged creep and cast Impale towards the creep line. NA will then auto-attack the ranged creep while it is in the air and move on to the melee creeps. This saves you a few seconds while you're farming or trying to turbo-push a lane.

The Pushing Phase - Levels 13~17

Alright, you have level 2 Vendetta and it finally lasts a good long time. At this point, pick up 1 or 2 sets of Observer Wards.

You have two choices here depending on what's going on in your game. This is usually when the outer rim of towers is down or hurt, and your team bands together to try and score some gold by pushing their luck with the second tower layer. If they're in need of help, go with them. If not, keep roaming and ganking loners.

Your team will likely get ganked on their push, at which point you can turn the tables on their gankers if you're close by. Correct use of Vendetta here is clutch. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET A HIT WITH VENDETTA! You can use it to scout out the nearby woods for ganks and give your teammates some warning.

And when your push gets stopped (and it will), run into the enemy jungle. Plant an Observer Ward by the weak neutral camp, and a second by one of the medium neutral camps. Retreat if you're hurt, and watch those camps! As soon as the enemy carry goes to a camp, spring into action. TP nearby or run fast. When you get near, cast Vendetta. Then, combo him to death. Vendetta hit, Impale, Mana Burn (optional), smack smack smack, Dagon for finish. If he's still alive (barely hopefully). Get off another Impale for the finish and get the hell out of there! If you can't finish him, get the hell out! Don't chase too far or you will die! The enemy will try to come and seek revenge. Wait about 2-3 minutes while roaming, then repeat again. This is why people hate NA. Try to keep their jungle warded; it gives you a huge advantage. Since you're not too item dependent, you can definitely handle the warding job.

At the end of this point of the game, you should have your Dagon and be well on your way to Linken's or Ghost Scepter.

The Late Game - Levels 18~25

This is when you turn into a support/chaser. You don't have the stats to go toe-to-toe with many heroes, and you definitely have trouble with more than one. Don't go rambo on your team and try to solo 5 heroes. Your best bet is with your team! Try your damnedest not to be alone. The worst things you can go do at this point are farm or push alone.

Make sure you know who to focus fire with stuns and who needs to be spammed with Mana Burn. Use Vendetta to scout while pushing, and use it to initiate when your team gank is set. Don't expect to get all the kills or even most of them. Reserve Dagon for hurting the enemy carry or finishing a fleeing supporter. Also, don't be afraid to use Vendetta to escape. It's ok!

You should keep the enemy jungle warded. If the enemy carry is still trying to farm, make sure he has a tough time of it or is forced to have a constant babysitter. Either way, he loses his farm or your team has one less hero to worry about. This is the only time it is acceptable to go alone at this point in the game, but you should bring a teammate with if you can.

Support your carries and make sure they have as much room to work as possible. Push hard, and go straight for the win! When getting raxxes, don't get distracted by enemy heroes, get the rax! It'll pay off more!

Friendly Allies



Your best allies are those with ranged stun attacks. Either of you can initiate a gank safely, and the other can follow up with a chain stun.

Nightmare Enemies



This definitely looks like overkill, but this is a list of all heroes who have a natural silence, truesight, or a secondary form of truesight. Being aware of your enemies potential is definitely better than just remembering to avoid only Bounty Hunter and Slithereen Guard.

Changelog

25 February 2010
- Guide started.
- Initial format complete.
- Added Introduction.
- Added Skill Descriptions.
- Added 1 Strategy.
- Provided Skill Build.
- Provided Starting, Core and Expansion Items.
- Situational Item Slot Options laid out.
- Added lists for Favored Allies and Hero Counters.
- Revised section regarding Dagon and moved to Optional Items.
- Reworked Core Items.
- Expanded Starting Items explanation.
- Item Justification added.
- Option for Ghost Scepter Added.
- Phase Strategies added.
- Headings given color for easier reading.
- Slight editing on Dagon Section.
- Removal/editing of some confusing comments.


Replays

COMING SOON!

Thanks to All the Following:

- Morbius for the Ghost Scepter idea.
- FunnyWarfare for his valuable input on Dagon.

If anyone has a replay showcasing the Nerubian Assassin using my build or wants to submit some ideas and proof of concept, please pm me to get in contact with me.